DoublEE

dave bug wrote:This looks like a good post to use for a little review of what we're up to and why we made some of the decisions we made. Let me see here...

First, I do want to emphasize that we're constantly tweaking (and hopefully improving) things, and you'll keep seeing little changes and updates here and there. (For instance, Woot Plus events now have discussion threads!) It may not move as fast as some (even us) would like to see, but we're doing everything we can to improve the experience for you all.

Along with that, I want to be clear: We're moving forward, not back. There's no 'old' site for us to return to. We're here, in this new place, and we'll keep evolving and growing it, but there is no thought or possibility of moving back.

On to some thoughts on what we're doing and why:
The bulk of the reasons for a lot of the changes you and others mention (features feeling hidden, the design seeming busy, etc.) is connected to our expansion into Woot Plus events.

Here's the short and sweet of Woot Plus events: We have more than one good deal a day per product category.

We obviously are (and will continue to) expand into new categories (hi sport.woot!), and that's a good way for us to get you all new deals, but as much as that might go, it still leaves us turning back other deals - deals that are smaller quantities, or more niche items, or even just the second best deal out there in a given category. That sucks, for you all who might've wanted that stuff and for the vendors who were hoping to get their stuff out there.

So once we figured out we wanted to get more of the deals we were finding out there, we had to figure out how to best get the deals out and viewable to everyone. This is where it gets subjective. It's totally fair to say our execution is busy, or cluttered, or that in adding them at the size and place we did it hides or removes too many other things. That feedback is welcome, and listened to.

That said, we do have some pretty tough constraints - again, there's no point in us going to the effort of finding, buying, and putting together events if no one sees them. And honestly, anything new that is not in some way directly on our home page basically doesn't get seen. That led us to where we are now - basically a gateway style home page that lets people know all the stuff going on on that site, and an easy way to get to the other sites. Again, it's fair to say you'd have done it differently, or disagree with our prioritization or visual implementation. In fact, we will continue to look closely at how everything is or isn't working, trying out different sizes and placements, and thinking up new solutions.

It is definitely a compromise to not have our whole write-up on the home page. It's painful to think there are people who might've read it but now don't bother clicking through. But it's also painful to think of people missing good deals on stuff they'd like because they don't get introduced to it on the home page. Design is all about compromise, and our goal with the 'gateway' approach is to allow a little bit of everything to surface, rather than showing all of some things and completely burying others. Maybe we're too heavily weighted one way and too light another, and we'll keep an eye on that, but I still feel this was the right approach, and we'll move forward from here to make it better.

Of course, we can't satisfy everyone with any decision we've made or will be making. Some of you will say you can go elsewhere to get more deals, and that it's not Woot's role to have every good deal out there. I think that's fair, and there are some fairly easy ways to skip around to the daily deals and bypass the home pages if you'd like. (For instance, clicking the product photos in the navigation hovers will take you right to those sales, with full write-ups, etc.) Heck, you can figure out what's for sale on Woot without coming to the site at all - on Facebook, Twitter, one of many apps out there, RSS feeds, etc. If you're a developer type and don't like any of the ways to browse through what we're selling, make your own! We will keep working on building the best experience we can within the opportunities and constraints we have, and we hope that you'll come along with us, and keep telling us what you like and what you don't like about what we're trying.

Jesus...it's like getting a long-winded answer from some suit at Amazon...oh wait...I guess that's what it is.

The arrogance you display in saying "Along with that, I want to be clear: We're moving forward, not back. There's no 'old' site for us to return to. We're here, in this new place, and we'll keep evolving and growing it, but there is no thought or possibility of moving back" is mind-blowing.

As far as I'm concerned Woot! is dead. In it's place is Amazon Jr. I applaud Matt Rutledge for realizing he couldn't continue to work under Amazon. As for the remaining Woot! staffers...enjoy drinking the koolaid.

Caffeineismydrug

dave bug wrote:Along with that, I want to be clear: We're moving forward, not back. There's no 'old' site for us to return to. We're here, in this new place, and we'll keep evolving and growing it, but there is no thought or possibility of moving back.

Thanks Dave, you just sealed the deal for me. I have sent an EMail to service@woot.com asking to deactivate my account.

After 6 Years and nearly 250 woots of junk I didn't need, I have finally had enough.

I am done making purchases, done providing item feedback, and done talking about the origins of the "unique" stuff around my house, kitchen, and garage.

My Woot cellar branded wines are getting moved up in priority to consume.

Heck, I might even put the collection of never-used monkeys on the ebay...

It has been a fun run.

<BOYCOTT>Currently on Woot Boycott until Deal-A-Day site is restored to sanity</BOYCOTT>

butz

Please, woot, I appreciate the security, but how many times in a single day do I have to reenter my password on the same stinkin' device???? Even if I leave the page open, I have to enter my password to go to my account. It's ridiculous!!!

timtheamazing2008

rnew wrote:Curly: Do you know what the secret of life is?
Curly: This. [holds up one finger]

Mitch: Your finger?

Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don't mean road trip.

***

Get back to ONE thing...one product, one awesome write up.

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the over-complication but what bother's me is that the 'old' Woot! was content with one deal per day. They didn't just change the website with the upgrade, they changed the business model. A better bottom line, for sure, but its not the same place anymore.

pooflady

Mayer, Google's 20th employee and first female engineer, has led a number of its businesses, and was credited for envisioning the clean, simple Google search interface still in use today, a major selling point for Web surfers.

ncarris

nothing new to add just wanted to agree that I'm probably out of here for all the reasons stated. I've emailed the beta specifics a couple of times and the site has only jammed more crap in. This isn't woot anymore, nothing to see here, move along.

rgmekanic

I'm sorry but I have found I have not bought anything from Woot! in months.

This is not my first account on Woot! I've been active and buying on here since 2005, and loved 1 GREAT deal a day.

Now I get 14 mediocre deals. Even on the Woot off the deals aren't that great anymore!

I can't read the full product writeup without extra steps, I have to log in constantly, the home page is as cluttered as my garage.

I don't want a dozen deals that are the same price as going to walmart. 1 want 1 GREAT deal a day, even if it's on an item I don't want!

I don't see myself buying from woot anytime soon, not in protest, but simply because there hasn't been anything I want, or a deal good enough to not pass up on in a very long time.

In protest, I have cancelled my amazon credit card

Now I'll wait to sit 24 hours through a woot off containing 22 tablets, 6 HP desktops, 3 clocky's, and 17 Roku's, all at little to no discount, only to have the server crash when a Brigade of Campers comes up.

pawwa

So I don't really post much, but the reason I came to woot was because of its personality. You didn't feel like it was just trying to sell you tons of stuff it felt as if the items were actually a deal, now there's so much stuff to LOOK at and buy nothing feels special,, nothing feels like a deal. I based all of my buys off of other peoples comments but people have been commenting less and less and a lot of times there are just 10-15 comments. That's not enough to make me feel safe in buying them. Why are there less comments? are their less people? Or is there just to much distraction to warrant commenting? Or maybe there is to much to comment on and all the comments are dispersed. I don't know. I do know that I get a sick feeling when I look at the new website. I really wish the Woot plus was its own little tab. I'd probably love the new site then. I've bought less, looked less, and ultimately will probably not be coming around as much. its to bad, you see, cause we all know nothing last forever, but its just so sad that the woot that we loved so much had to die so early in its life. Oh well, I guess its time to grab a shovel.

younggeezer

Traffic is down according to Alexa. (Can't see Quantcast since you've now hidden the data. Clever.)

Longtime customers are fed up and leaving. I'd bet sales are down more than the drop in traffic.

The redesign has failed. The PHBs are still pulling for it (hi Dave).

My last purchase was in April, and I haven't seen a tempting deal since then. I'm not sure if that's because I can't see the good deal through the many so-so deals, or if there just aren't any good deals.

I'm outta here. I'll monitor Woot through the 'good deal' aggregator sites, but checking Woot sites first thing in the morning is a thing of the past.

wolfwood316

younggeezer wrote:My last purchase was in April, and I haven't seen a tempting deal since then. I'm not sure if that's because I can't see the good deal through the many so-so deals, or if there just aren't any good deals.

I'm outta here. I'll monitor Woot through the 'good deal' aggregator sites, but checking Woot sites first thing in the morning is a thing of the past.

My last was in March. I think it's a combination of what you said. There haven't been any good deals AND you can't see the mediocre ones through all the mess. I didn't even wait until morning, I used to stay up nightly until 1AM EST to see the update. Now I just come by once a week to reaffirm that New Woot is still a joke. I guess neither of us are getting into heaven; I'm at 60 woots right now, and it would take a miracle for that to get any higher.

GeoPink

My turn to let the powers that be at the deal site formerly know as woot that I have now officially tuned out. After numerous purchases and years of entertainment, you have made decisions that have turned this site from "a great social experience that also had a great deal on some product that I never knew I needed" to "this is the only place you'll ever need to go to find a deal on everything... oh btw don't forget we're cool, too! Really we are... nothings changed. really..."

A previous poster said it best...
You didn't just change the website, you changed the business model. When you did that, you changed the Woot! experience. We want our Woot! experience back... and one by one, those of us who have been here for the experience are realizing that the Woot! experience is dead.

So Goodbye woot... I'll check in every now and then... you see, this is much like the once close friend that has started hanging around with a different crowd leaving us "behind". Yeah it hurts a bit to see you go in this direction, but I'll be here if you ever decide to get back to the one thing we loved about you when we first met: One Day, One Deal! Woot!

rarson

I'm quite impressed with the attitude that Woot has taken with the site, not kowtowing to the very small but very vocal minority of users who demand to have things their way because that's the way they like it.

I'm fairly certain Woot is as successful as ever, despite the ridiculous protests.

cleverlyc

rarson wrote:I'm quite impressed with the attitude that Woot has taken with the site, not kowtowing to the very small but very vocal minority of users who demand to have things their way because that's the way they like it.

I'm fairly certain Woot is as successful as ever, despite the ridiculous protests.

No, we're upset because Woot! has officially jumped the shark. Woot! is no more.

It feels dirty calling this new site Woot! I feel like I'm cheating on the real Woot! with a gaudy female Woot! impersonator. KINDA looks the same, but working so much harder to sell me on its products....ick.

Some people won't care, I get that. Amazon, and some of the posters here are certainly lauding the changes. Some of them ARE great, the hover-over quickviews at the top are VERY nice, but the core of the site's appeal IS GONE. Who wanted a portal? Amazon, NOT the customers.

As others have said, one GREAT deal a day had so much more appeal than the ongoing 20+ mediocre deals that are available at any moment now. Yeah, perhaps I am just one of those who doesn't like change, but this isn't a minor change, this is a complete overhaul, a total change in the business model.

It may work for others, but I don't see why. The same products and the same prices you can get elsewhere? Where's the wooty uniqueness? The same deals day after day after day?

rossvenable

muddleaged

I guess I'll get used to the new format. That's not what will send me away. It's that there used to be a great deal of something I don't need or want. Now there are lousy deals on things I might want, but the price does not tempt me.

NavyDallas

Woot used to be a cute and endearing site but now it's just overwhelming. Maybe if you didn't have so many categories in a woot-off at the same time. And when you put the amusing write-ups in a "click here to read more" column they've obviously become secondary or tertiary and I just don't bother reading them any more. I knew Amazon would ruin Woot!, and I am a fan of Amazon.

halperez

I've found another "bug" in the site, albeit one I'm sure the designers intended. The old site had today's woot at www.woot.com. The new site has a link on www.woot.com to www.woot.com/today that redirects to a page specific to the current product. Right now, the /today page redirects to http://www.woot.com/offers/altec-lansing-stereo-usb-speakers. With the user-friendly page, you could refresh during a woot-off and the new product would appear on that page. With the Amazoned site, refreshing the individual product page after an item has sold out refreshes the sold out item's specific page. You have to click on the /today link in the drop down tab to get the new deal. Just another example of how the new site makes it more difficult for the customer to spend their money.

omh1009

As I said, "write your suggestions here so the devs. won't read them by accident."

ThunderThighs wrote:Please don't give up. The comments are read. If a change or feature is decided on, it's prioritized and put in the queue for development. The development team has already rolled out a lot of fixes and improvements since we launched the new site. It may take time but they're hard at work.

So they have to re-invent the wheel? Why they have to "develop" a feature that already existed?
This whole thing is making me feel like the grouchy old man that lives at the end of the street.

norriscr

Cluttered and fractured would be the first 2 things that come to mind. The former simple design tied things together better. There's simply too much going on now. Too many "sites" too many pages, too many discussions. The new design kind of kills that sense of community that I used to feel.

As others have said having to click to read the full write up kills it. Color me suspicious but the new design seems like it was developed to drive up page clicks and thus stats for advertisers. It also smacks of a site built by web developers to satisfy their own desire to add on a bunch of stuff.

To me although lacking in some areas Craigslist is still one of the best sites out there. Simple and without any unneeded elements.

hippymailman

hippymailman

I am checking "woot" less and less even checking this blog less which basically has me lost of all hope for to do just 2 things
1 put writeup on first page
and
2 reduce the size (not get rid of) "woot plus"

kendodge

Well I think that says it all. "There is no old woot to go back to" Well you will be hard pressed to find any positives in the 25+ pages of this blog and many have commented on mediocrity and lack of 'personality'. I'm pretty much gone, as it is way too commercialized, and cluttered and boring and, and, and.....................

ActorTom

I purchased the extended warranty for the LG 60" TV from Square Trade by clicking on the link woot provided on the product details page (after clicking the “I want one” button). THIS RESULTED IN BEING DECEIVED BY WOOT AS TO THE COST AND DURATION OF THE WARRANTY, AND IN MY PURCHASING THE WRONG WARRANTY. Part of my decision to purchase this refurbished item was the availability of a 3 year warranty.

Your link indicated that I was eligible for a 3 year warranty at $116. I completed the order from your link. Upon submitting my receipt, I was informed that since the item is a refurb, only a 2 year warranty is available -- at a cost of $175. THUS THE WARRANTY WOULD ACTUALLY COST $59 DOLLARS MORE -- FOR A YEAR'S LESS COVERAGE. Your link sent me into the new warranty section, and I never got a choice to indicate that the item was a refurb, or any indication that refurbs were treated differently.

Your improper link misled me when making my purchase decision, required a 20 minute phone call to straighten everything out with Square Trade, and SCREWED ME OUT OF $59 AND A YEAR OF COVERAGE.

I would not have purchased this item had I known the cost and duration of the warranty that was actually available to me.

zentide

dave bug wrote:This looks like a good post to use for a little review of what we're up to and why we made some of the decisions we made. Let me see here...
.

(WharrbleGarrble and Platitudes removed for space/sanit/hate sake)

In summary:
A. We want more money.
B. We don't really give a fetid pair of dingo's kidneys about your wants or needs.
C.The fact that you made us big enough that we can and will make more money means we no longer have to be good, we'll settle for just being popular.
D.We now have more "Go to woot" customers than we do "We love and care about woot" customers means that you leaving will mean zero to the bottom line of our 30 different woot stores.
E.We asked for your opinion thinking that we'd get a huge rah rah, but the fact that we didn't means nothing, we'll just make up some garbage about why this is and why it's not going to change ever, and you can just post your little heart away. $we$ $don't$ $care$.

I have seen a lot of things,..but I have NOT seen a lot of other things.

halperez

Looks like pageviews and time on site is up by about 15% over the last 3 months.

But your reach is down by 12% over the last 3 months, more over the last 6.

So the new design keeps people on the site longer, but drove away a lot more.

And as I said before, I don't think it's the new site design as much as it's the crappy deals.

Let's see if I understand the numbers correctly. Woot goes from one page per category to at least 4 pages per category (one portal, one product, and at least two plus deal pages). They increased the total number of pages by over 400% and the total number of pages with products by over 300%.

The 88% of the people who are sticking with woot are each spending about 17% more time on woot than they did before the "upgrade". There were about 7 categories before the upgrade. That 17% increase in page views results in 8-9 pages. Yet there are currently over 20 pages with products. More if you break each plus page into its individual deals.

The 17% increase in page views could easily be attributed to the people clicking on the category's portal and then on the woof's sales page.

All these numbers are feel and good but they don't paint the whole picture. If the 88% spending 17% longer results in the same or more sales, and more specifically an increase in revenue, then the change was worth it.

**If anyone is wondering why I used 17% instead of 15%, I'm taking into account the decrease in reach.

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